Sears Is Turning Shuttered Stores Into Data Centers 137
miller60 writes "Servers may soon fill the aisles where shoppers once roamed. Sears Holdings is seeking to convert former Sears and Kmart stores into Internet data hubs. Some stand-alone stores and distribution centers may be repurposed as data centers, while mall-based stores can be converted into disaster recovery sites, the company says, offering access to stores and eateries for displaced workers who may be on site for weeks. Then there's the wireless tower opportunity. Seventy percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Sears or Kmart store, and these rooftops can be leased to fill gaps in cell coverage. It's not the first effort to convert stores into IT infrastructure, as Rackspace is headquartered in an old mall, and companies have built data centers in malls in Indiana and Maryland. But Sears, which operates 25 million square feet of real estate, hopes to make this strategy work at scale." Also at Slash DataCenter.
Talk about.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:New HDD in Isle 6, New HDD in Isle 6! (Score:4, Insightful)
Because the cost to retrofit an old and empty store costs significantly less than trying to build a new location from the ground up, once you consider the acquisition of land, the cost of construction plus any infrastructure costs (water, sewer, roads, electricity, possibly gas lines as well - though waste heat may be used to heat the building during winter, if required).
I don't know... sure you're saving on a bunch of stuff. But you're talking about a building that was never made to handle the kind of stuff a data-center needs.
For SOME projects, sometimes starting from scratch is easier and cheaper than trying to retrofit an older / existing thing. Because by the time you tear down section A to rebuild it, that's a lot of time and money right there. I don't know if there's enough tear-down in this scenario to qualify but it's something to consider.
I've worked in a number of stores. Their power situation stunk. In the year 2000 I had to run the aisles and look up prices when the power went out for like 1/2 a day but the boss wanted to stay open. Meanwhile another store I worked at had power issues from time to time. And that was just for running lights, some registers, a photo machine, and a couple of PC's. There wasn't even a refrigerated section.
So you're talking about re-doing the power INTO the place as well as the power INSIDE the place.
Then you have to worry about cooling. No raises floors. Weak units. Not laid out for maximum air flow. You're re-doing a lot for the A/C.
Then security. Some stores have building that aren't exactly well protected if someone really wanted in. Sure there's an alarm but when one whole wall is plexi, the walls are thin, and the doorways weren't setup for protection. It's hard to really offer much protection.
Re:New HDD in Isle 6, New HDD in Isle 6! (Score:2, Insightful)
Did you not read the article? It specifically said stand alone stores and distribution centers. A distribution center is not a urban mall area and stand alone stores are just that, a stand alone store located on property they own and not part of a mall area kind of like the sears appliance outlet near me that closed but still sits on private property and not located in or near a shopping center or direct urban area.
Im guessing no you did not read a thing, you saw the headline and at best skimmed the article for a second and then posted a comment without actually reading the source material and posted a uninformed response filled with assumptions and what sounded good to you.
this is great! (Score:4, Insightful)
For some reason, every time they want to put up a new store, they build new. Meanwhile, when the old stores get closed they just sit and the building never gets used. It's almost like ringworm, you get this ever expanding ring of dead stores that expands out for the city center. Every day I drive by 3 abandon grocery stores and even worse, new construction for 2 new stores of about the same size!
Its good to hear they are doing something with at least some of them.